Take a photo of a barcode or cover
smiley7245 's review for:
The Librarian of Auschwitz (Special Edition)
by Antonio Iturbe
This book was devastating, like most books about Auschwitz. I know a decent amount about the Holocaust in general and Auschwitz in particular and I had no idea that there was a family camp there so much of this book contained information that was a surprise. This is the story of Dita and her survival of Auschwitz, with a little artistic liberty (particularly in name changes). Dita is 14 and in the family camp with her mother and father. She is tasked with hiding and distributing the few books that have made their way into the family camp at Auschwitz. Going in I knew this was not going to be just sunshine and roses; it's about a death camp. But knowing that doesn't make it any easier. Her father is the first to die; pneumonia. An SS soldier falls for Dita's friend Renee; he is able to smuggle out a prisoner but when he is returning for Renee and her mother he is caught and killed. Renee survives the transfer from Auschwitz, but we do not know if she survives to liberation. Rudi, a prisoner with an important job loses his mind after his girlfriend, Alice, is sent to the gas chambers and he actually manages to escape; he survives the war. Fredy, the coach and "head" of the family camp dies; everyone thinks he killed himself instead of leading an uprising but it sounds like the hospital workers actually killed him so he wouldn't get them killed during the uprising. Dita's mother, Leisl, survives the transfer from Auschwitz and even sees liberation day but dies shortly after, fever. Dita ends up in Prague where she goes to look for her friend Margit and Margit's father (Margit's mother and sister both died in Auschwitz). Dita runs into Ota, one of the "teachers" from the family camp. They stay in contact, with him in Prague and her with Margit 80km outside of Prague. Dita and Ota eventually get married. They have 3 kids. They move to Israel. Dita and Margit stay in touch the rest of their lives and Margit names one of her daughters after Dita. This book has a lot of characters; sometimes they are hard to keep straight, and sometimes it's hard to get invested in all of them. But Dita has a compelling story; hope. The death of her mother was not unexpected, but it was no less tragic. The fact that she survived until liberation, it's almost like she was specifically waiting for that moment; waiting to know that Dita would be ok before she left. This book stays with you.